Suspect caught after Kentucky shooting, hostage-taking

Published 6:30 am, Saturday, January 12, 2008

MUSES MILLS, Ky. — A man suspected of killing two people and wounding a third, then taking the mother of his children hostage, was captured early Saturday, Kentucky State Police said.

The hostage, pregnant 27-year-old Bonnie Butler, was found uninjured, troopers said. One of those killed was described as the father of her unborn child.

Roy Pollard Jr. was arrested about three miles from the scene of the shootings at a house in a remote area of Fleming County in eastern Kentucky, Trooper Ralph Lockard said.

Butler was found about an hour before Pollard's arrest when she went to a farm and called police, Lockard said.

Butler was talking with investigators and was treated after being outdoors overnight in temperatures in the low- to mid-30s, Lockard said. "She was in good shape," he said.

Pollard also was hospitalized for treatment of exposure, then was taken to the Mason County Detention Center and held on two counts of murder, one count of first-degree assault, one count of burglary and four lesser charges.

Investigators were still searching for a rifle they said Pollard had when he fled into a wooded area.

Police described Butler as Pollard's ex-wife. But Howard Riley, a cousin of Jason Lee Thompson, said Butler and Pollard weren't married although they had children together. Family members were unsure about Anderson's relationship to either the Thompsons or Butler.

Riley said Butler was engaged to Jason Lee Thompson and is four months pregnant with Thompson's baby, and Pollard was angry about their relationship and often harassed the couple.